Coutinho: Duda Powering His Way Into The Spotlight

By Rich Coutinho
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New York (WFAN) - Lucas Duda was not considered a top prospect as early as 2 years ago but he has skyrocketed into the middle of the Met order and has quickly become a fan favorite. "When you have the type of power this young man has and you get the chance to play every day", says Met manager Terry Collins," the sky is the limit. Over the course of the season, pitchers will make mistakes and trust me Lucas Duda will make them pay for those mistakes."

He made 2 pitchers pay on Saturday--Jair Jurrjens and crafty veteran Livan Hernandez--with solo homers but anybody who saw him in spring training should not be surprised by this most recent power surge. On a daily basis, he put on a batting practice show and displayed his talents in exhibition games as well. Over the course of the spring, the doubters complained he only did it last year in a small sample and spring training is well--spring training. But Duda not only has power at the plate--he also displays discipline fouling off tough pitches and taking borderline ones. He couples his power bat with lightning quick hands which gets his home run swing through the strike zone in a hurry.

"His power bat is huge for us", says David Wright,"and I say that because his presence will eventually force pitchers to give in to other hitters in this lineup. He is a budding star." Duda, though, remains very humble giving all the credit to his teammates. "The coaching staff has worked very hard with me and being around hitters like David Wright and Daniel Murphy who really understand plate discipline has helped me improve so much in the last 12 months", says the Met rightfielder.

If Duda continues to perform as he did in the second half of last year, he will provide the Mes with good balance in the middle of their batting order which is music to the ears of the Met pitching staff. It will also provide Met fans with more days like Saturday when Duda and David Wright combined for three home runs for the home team. Just for the record, since CitiField opened in 2009, that has only happened 21 other times.

I get the distinct feeling that number will be rising dramatically in the next few months. And if it does, Lucas Duda will be a big reason why.